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The next big buy in junk bonds: the US consumer

Pimco, Prudential and others betting on American companies driven by retail customers. By Emma Orr

New York

SOME of the world's largest junk-bond investors are betting big on the US consumer.

Money managers including Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco) and Prudential Financial Inc's PGIM are buying high-yield bonds tied to home builders, lumber, lodging, air travel and other parts of the US economy driven by retail customers. Some of these investors are cashing out of energy junk bonds, which have surged since mid-February, as part of the shift.

The thinking is that US consumers will continue to spend, whatever political and economic trouble may be brewing across the pond after the UK's "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union, or whatever may happen to oil prices. US consumer confidence...

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